Up-to-the-minute advice, information, resources, and, on occasion, commentary on federal and New Jersey state income taxes, and the various New Jersey property tax rebate programs, and insights and observations on tax policy and professional tax practice, by 40-year veteran tax professional Robert D Flach.

“The government made $13.7 million in profits on dividends from each of the investments, which totaled $2.7 billion.”

I was not a fan of government “bail-outs”, but I stand corrected.

* Peter Reilly celebrates the coming of 100 posts in “PAOO Reaches 100 - Merry Christmas”. Congratulation to PR on the milestone. You can read more about Peter at TWTP this coming Friday (New Year’s Eve).

Many years ago I took a cruise from San Francisco to Alaska and back. Among my fellow travelers were the aunt and uncle of actor Elliot Gould, whom I had seen in my youth on Broadway in the musical “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” (which was the Broadway debut of Gould’s then future wife Barbra Streisand). When I told them of my profession they commented that accountants had robbed Elliot practically blind over the years.

“The NSA's biennial survey of nearly 8,000 tax preparers showed the average tax preparation fee for an itemized Form 1040 with Schedule A and a state tax return is only $229. Rates for non-itemized returns are even lower – the average cost to prepare a Form 1040 and state return without itemized deductions is only $129.”

I hope my clients are reading this.

* I recently heard from Brad Polizzano, an tax attorney in New York who represents taxpayers under audit by the IRS and NYS, about his new tax blog POKER AND TAXES BY TAXDOOD.

According to Brad, the new blog is “focused primarily on how the code treats gambling winnings. There are many young people who play online poker, and for the first time in their lives, are earning substantial amounts of income. The idea is to provide general guidance to these people with respect to properly reporting the income.”

Check it out when you get a chance.

The next installment of the BUZZ, the first of 2011, will appear on Wednesday, January 5th. Don’t forget to read my mini-interview with Peter Reilly on Friday.

Before contacting me with questions about how a blog post relates to your specific situation, please be aware that I do not give free tax advice to non-clients by e-mail, comment response, or phone. So don't waste your time and mine.